Having a resilient mindset helps you overcome so many things in life, especially in this time and age. With what is happening to the current environment worldwide, it is vital for leaders to develop resilience to help themselves and others face trials and tribulations and keep fighting. In this episode, joining Jen Du Plessis to talk more about becoming a resilient leader in the 21st century is Regeline Sabbat, a first-generation Haitian American, motivational speaker, best-selling author of GOD First, life coach, the host of Walk With Me Podcast on JRQTV, and domestic violence advocate. Regeline opens up about her resilience story and how she moved from success to significance despite being a victim of sexual assault at a very early age.

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Becoming A Resilient Leader In The 21st Century With Regeline Sabbat

My guest is a first-generation Haitian American, motivational speaker, best-selling author of GOD First, life coach, the host of Walk With Me Podcast on JRQTV, and domestic violence advocate. She’s an experienced leader who has adopted a conservative approach to help Christians grow spiritually, financially, professionally, and/or personally. She does this by setting clear and measurable goals for those who are ready to take action and experience life’s growth and transformation. She also helps people get unstuck financially. I want to welcome you, Gigi, to the show. How exciting is it, how we met, how we got here and how much we have in common pleasure to have you?

It’s an honor to be here. Thank you.

We met in the Clubhouse, that’s the new thing that we’re on in. I love it because we can listen to what people are saying, and you can feel the energy that comes through that and helps you identify who you want to have on your show and who you want to have relationships with, and all of that. Tell us about your experience at the Clubhouse these days.

We went into 2021 and no one had any idea of what Clubhouse was, even though it was prior to that. Here’s the thing, once it got, knowing everyone went into it. Why? It’s because it invites only. Once I got invited into it and I started utilizing it. The title can somewhat be misleading because you think of Clubhouse and you’re like, “What Clubhouse is this?” As business professionals, we want to make sure that it’s something that’s in alignment with what we’re doing in regards to business. I tell this to individuals all the time. It’s not what it seems in regards to the name, because when I first saw it, it was very misleading, but for business professionals and anyone looking to grow in all areas of their lives. I’ve utilized it to host events and meetings with colleagues. We have helped others grow in all areas of their lives so I love it.

 

As a lifestyle coach, I realized that I was circling the drain I got in there and I said, “This is not going to happen.” I took a sabbatical and I created a strategy. I’m very specific about when I go in. Why I’m going in, what I’m talking about, who I’m looking for. It has done wonders for me because you can get sucked into the fear of missing out. All these Clubhouses are going on and you’re missing out. I realized that God didn’t have to intend for me to be in the Clubhouse all day long. There were other people I needed to serve where I got away with them.

Thanks for sharing that with us. What I want to talk about is a resilient mindset and leadership training because there are two things that are going on. We have COVID and leadership word that has been resonating incredibly. Even before COVID, we were starting to get little snippets of leadership. Ironically, we are in the first or the second decade of the 21st-century, but all of a sudden the 21st century leader is emerging. We couldn’t be leaders without having COVID to slow us down a little bit and reassess who we are. We’re looking for now is how do we be a resilient leader in this environment? Having said that, I want to ask you what you feel as your greatest gift that the other is a struggle when it comes to leadership?

Maintaining a resilient mindset. I do want to circle back really quick in regards to what you said about the Clubhouse because it’s very important to have a strategy. I have found that the Clubhouse app was available, others use a marketing tool to market the product or themselves. Now what’s happening with Clubhouse is you have to be present to market what you do. That’s taking time-consuming for the business owner to see. What we’re finding is so many of them are in there. I love what you said about the strategy and utilized is the resilient mindset, which helps me overcome so much in my life. To those that are reading, no matter what trials or tribulations you’re faced with it in your life or the challenges or the circumstances that you’re in, do not let that define you. You’re more than that. You can’t overcome get back up and keep fighting.

Tell us a little bit about you, your resilience and how you’ve moved from success into significance, or you’re still in between them. Tell us about your story and how this resilience came to be.

It started at a very early age. I was sexually assaulted when I was eight years old and then my trust in others and how I socialize with others was affected tremendously from that. I had grown since then, and essentially I share my story to help others who have also overcome sexual assault as well. Hence, the title of my panel in 2020 was the Global Virtual Panel of Sexual Assault Survivors. My parents came to this country from Haiti many years ago. They instilled in my brothers and me the importance of obtaining an education, so I did. I attend to the University of Central Florida in Orlando, obtain my BA in Political Science PreLaw, and Sociology intern for the Senator during my undergrad studies.

[bctt tweet=”You’re not alone. God is with you wherever you go.” via=”no”]

I pursued a degree in Law. While in law school, I was very busy at the time I had become the SBA President the Student Bar Association President, and I’ll never forget. I got the shock of my life one day. I had got done studying and I was on the phone with a colleague from SBA and the abuser charged at me while I was on the couch, strangled me, beat me, and almost killed me. I’m truly grateful to be here. I’ll never forget when I accident massive violence. What happened when I tried to get back up, they said I fell flat like a vegetable because I lost oxygen to the brain.

That’s because you had that previous traumatic event and triggered you back into that mode is that what happened?

No. That’s completely separate. That’s why I hosted the Domestic Violence Panel and the Sexual Assault Panel to help individuals understand the differences because too often people are sharing these stories. People don’t understand the differences between the two. These were two separate events. One happened when I was eight, the other happened when I was an adult, while I went to law school. Here’s the thing I teach others that you can take all the precautions that you want, but don’t blame yourself for what happens to you. You have to keep going, get back up, and don’t give up. Even after that happened, I was in a full recovery and then I was sexually assaulted again, as an adult, I was taken from a group of individuals that I was with and that happened. No one knew who he was. He worked for the company in a different state. That’s what I teach people is that you have to continue to take all the precautions.

How does that then go into leadership? The mindset of a leader is someone has not been sexually abused. How does that change and what resilience are we looking to accomplish with other traumatic situations that have happened in your life or maybe not?

I have worked with several individuals who had trauma in their life or had a major challenge. What I found is a correlation of individuals feeling as though they were hopeless and I teach others that you’re not alone. God is with you wherever you go. People say, “How did you go into full recovery?” It’s because I had God first in my life, hence the title of my second book is GOD First to raise awareness about the importance of having him first in our lives, understand this. We wouldn’t have all the issues that we have in society if people were to keep him in his proper place, which is first. I did my research and I did my studies. What I found is that all the individuals who came before us, this is what they were trying to tell us in regards to the science and all the research that they did prior to. They would say things that God is the issue and things like that of that nature. What they were trying to tell us is GOD First we need to have God first in our lives. It’s the title of my second book to raise awareness about that.

You and I have talked about this in the green room and about the importance of Christianity, at least from our perspective. I’m not trying to push anything on anybody but from the perspective that helps us with the leader and resilience that we have. I want to get back to this question about leadership. I want to continue to plow through that as a business owner and as an entrepreneur. For example, Clubhouse, and this is not a Clubhouse thing, but anytime that you’re networking with other people you’re talking about leadership and the resilience that leadership requires. Especially now with COVID with everyone at home you don’t know who’s working and who isn’t working, what are some strategies that the people reading this blog, can I embrace and bring in to help them with the resilience that they need to continue the course as a leader?

In regards to leadership, number one, show up, no matter what is going on in your life as a leader, you need to show up and number two, serve. You need to understand the importance of serving others. Essentially when we serve others we take ourselves out of it. Gratitude truly matters.

I see a shift as well into not having managers, not having employees, but rather moving into leadership, team members, and collaboration. Are you seeing that as well or am I the only one who’s seeing it everywhere? I have this quote that I read is that, “Unless you’re willing to serve, you’re not ready to lead.” Am I the only one who’s seeing this now that it’s becoming more of a struggle and what do you think is the solution?

Essentially don’t become an entrepreneur or a business owner if you’re not ready to serve, if you don’t understand the importance of serving, because there are so many people out there who need help and I teach others. If you have the skills and the knowledge to help others as a leader, you need to be able to do so, because it is so selfish to keep that knowledge to yourself.

When you look back on the stressful experiences that you’ve had because you went through several traumatic things in your life. How did you maneuver out of them? I’m sure it now you know the answer, God first, now you know that you can build yourself back up through your faith and through trusting people, but you probably didn’t feel that way at first. How did you meander through that? Walk us through some of the trials and tribulations that you attempted and the failures that you had too. It’s important for people to understand that every day is not going to be wonderful and glorious as you’re coming out of something like that.

[bctt tweet=”As a leader, you need to show up and serve no matter what is going on in your life.” via=”no”]

It was not easy at all. I went into full recovery after that. Essentially the book WALK WITH ME walks with purpose to never give up as a purpose of that book. I didn’t oversee that I was going to write this book. I didn’t foresee that. I always wanted to write a book, but I didn’t know I was going to write a book in 2020. I thought it would be thousands of years later. When I met my book publisher, he said, “You need to write this book and you need to share your story. It’s going to help save others’ lives.” I said, “Okay, but understand this. I was still going through my recovery.” As I was writing and it was a healing process for me.

It’s our mess that becomes our message. That was interesting. What did you discover in that healing process, that most people don’t discover and come out of because not everyone is resilient and comes out of this?

I discovered that I’m truly a warrior and hence why I had the warrior’s mindset group on Facebook because I said, “I need to help others overcome and understand the importance of maintaining a resilient mindset.” I understand it to the fullest extent and God’s purpose for my life. I said, “I’m going to now help others do the same.” Other people have come forward who are survivors of several topics. Several topics that I’m hosting Global Virtual Panels for now. Why? It’s because I know so many people who have overcome so many different topics. They’re the topics that people are afraid to discuss and they’re the topics that are hidden. One person mentioned that the human trafficking one, thank God we hosted it because they said they haven’t been able to share their story because of the entertainment value. People don’t see that. They never got a chance to share their story. One gentleman came forward for the first time ever in several years that this happened, hence why we wonder why it’s not out there or awareness in regards to this happening to men.

Depending on your perspective, you think it only happens to women, children, and teens and it does happen to quite a few people. I had a guest on my show, Mitzi Perdue. She’s a huge advocate of human trafficking and making sure that people are taken care of. Is this human trafficking awareness month of February or was it the month of January?

January.

I knew it was coming up. It’s a big thing out there. What’s left for you as you move forward and you say, “I’m doing the Global Virtual Summits. I’m getting all kinds of topics out there to help people understand that they’re not alone, that they can be resilient, and learning how to be resilient and having people take that walk with you in faith.” If that’s what they choose to do and perhaps not in faith, but what’s next for you?

To continue to serve God’s people on this new spiritual platform, which is a virtual platform it seems like because of COVID now. Essentially, I’m hosting those survivor panels, but I’m also having the leadership conference and the business conference as well to understand that a major challenge that happens in your life does not mean that you cannot do well in business. You are truly a warrior, an overcomer, and you can be a leader in business.

What’s your favorite quote?

 

My favorite quote is, “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” by Mahatma Gandhi. I also share with you, one of my quotes is that, “Growth is truly the beauty of life. You must understand that you must continue to learn in this lifetime too.” Often individuals say, “That’s it. I learned enough.” They get a degree and they say, “That’s it. I learned enough. I have all the knowledge in the world now.” No. We’re always a student first and foremost, continue to learn because then you continue to grow.

That’s why we’re all in that mode of networking and trying to find out more about other people. We were too busy before and now we have a different busy-ness in what we’re experiencing in COVID. If someone wants to reach out to you and participate in the Global Virtual Summits, whether it’s business or more poignant topics, what is the best way for them to get in touch with you?

Reach out to me via my email at, RegelineSabbat@LifeServiceCenterOfAmericaLLC.com.

Tell us about What Women Want Networking, tell us about that organization that you’re working with as well.

[bctt tweet=”Don’t become an entrepreneur or a business owner if you’re not ready to serve because there are so many people out there who need help.” via=”no”]

That was Founded by Judy Goss and essentially, it brings individuals from all over the world together to network. We have several events throughout the year. I’ll be speaking on March 22nd, 2021 to help others in business and understand how to market and promote their businesses as well. Join us in, grab your ticket. I love that organization because if you truly want to be successful in business as well, you need to understand the importance of building relationships. Too often, people come in business and they say, “Here’s my business card.” That’s not the way to do business building relationships and networking. I love What Women Want Networking because essentially, it allows others to understand one, the importance of networking, and two, how to do it properly.

 

What’s happening now is that 43% of women outperform the men in their lives and women are going to be the main decision. We already are decision-makers in any things that are purchased, but we will become the primary decision maker with the spouses taking a second seat. It’s weird. There are more men that are staying home dads now than there ever have been. Corralling around this organization of women is super important. It’s not for women that’s the thing people need to understand is that when there’s a women’s organization, men should be in there too, to learn more about women so they can continue to grow as well. I love that you’re putting that you have that network together. What would you like to leave us with?

I want to leave you all with the fact to understand this to never give up and I’ll leave you with a poem title, Never Give Up. “Walls surround me. That’s all I see. All I want is to be free. I scream at the top of my lungs. God, please help me. The back of my mind wants to give up. My heart reminds me that I’m one of a kind, I feel closed in with nowhere to go. I remember the beauty of life is to grow. It doesn’t matter if you grow slow, growing as the purpose of life and everyone, it doesn’t matter how old you are. The color of your skin, your religion, your political views, the amount of money you make, the car, you drive. How many friends you have, how many followers you have on social media, your job title, how tall, or how short you are, your gender, your sexuality, your age, your fashion style, your body structure, the type of music you listen, your family’s culture or anything else that our society’s education system has altered our minds to focus on. Always remember you are in control of your mind, the reticular activating system. You focus on what you want to see, hear and believe in. Therefore, growth is in everyone. Never give up. The light may seem dim right now, but all you need to do is wake up the reticular activating system in your mind and you too will realize you are one of a kind, never give up.”

[bctt tweet=”Growth is truly the beauty of life. You must continue to learn in this lifetime.” via=”no”]

That’s so much encouragement, maybe because that is the case. We all think that we’re an island and we’re not. We are all in this together. Never give up, always have someone around you. Someone’s story is worse than yours I promise. They came out with full resilience. Gigi, thank you so much for joining us on this show. I appreciate it. For those of you that are reading, thank you for taking time out of your day. I’m extremely grateful that you take the time to read to what we have to share here to help you go from success to significance while you’re breaking through the glass ceilings in your life. We will catch you next time.

 

Important Links

• GOD First
• Walk With Me Podcast
• WALK WITH ME
• Mitzi Perdue – Previous episode
• RegelineSabbat@LifeServiceCenterOfAmericaLLC.com
• What Women Want Networking
• https://www.WhatWomenWantNetworking.com/memberships/speaker/speaker-directory/regeline-gigi-sabbat/
• https://AllMyLinks.com/gigisabbat
• https://www.LifeServiceCenterOfAmericaLLC.com/

 

About Regeline Sabbat